Lost In The Night (On Hold)

Not Going To End Well

(Cressida's P.O.V.)

I slam the door of the house, pissed off at how tonight unfolded. We hadn't anticipated being interrupted, but something tells me that the League, or more specifically Amara, knew that we would be. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I know my brother is trying to calm me down, as well as comfort me.

"Cress-" Adri starts to say something, but he's not quite sure how to continue, so he cuts himself off. I know he wants to ask how things went down with Raphael, but that he's not sure just how well I'm dealing with him screwing everything up.

"I yelled at him, we fought, amd I threw a stake at him without really thinking." I explain as briefly as possible, trying to keep the sinking feeling of dread inside of me at bay. I had a nagging feeling all throughout the ride home, and I still have it now. If my few past experiences have told me anything, the nagging feeling has to do with Raphael. Hence, I adamantly ignored it. Raphael Zantos is no longer my concern, and he never should have been my concern to begin with.

"Woah, okay. Slow down sis. What exactly happened? From what I heard, some serious shit went down." I sighed, I knew that he needed to know, and that he'd find out sooner or later. So I told him, every single detail. I told him about how Raphael knew about our parents and didn't tell us, how he said he had answers, and whatever else there was to tell him.

By the time I finished retelling what happened, as seeing that I spent about half the time cursing Raphael, a good hour had gone by. A few minutes after I finished my detailed retell which was also full of cursing, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I say, knowing full well who was on the other end and why they were calling.

"Hello Cressida, it's Amara. I need you and Adrian to come in to headquarters immediately." And then she hung up. I did the same, biting back am insult as I did so. Adrian was already putting his jacket back on, having heard the whole, short conversation.
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Walking into HQ, we don't even stop at the front desk, instead going right up to Amara's office.

I knock twice before opening the door, only to freeze in my tracks, Adrian growls quietly behind me. Sitting on the couch in Amara's office is one person I've had enough of, and the other is someone hunters only hear about, only a select few have met him. Sitting before us, are Raphael and Jerimiah, the oldest and probably second oldest vampires alive.

"Amara," I say, deathly calm. "What are they doing here?"

"We've agreed to work together, we know that Jade and Ethan are dangerous, and we should be using every resource possible to stop them." Jerimiah answers my question and his voice is void of all emotion, it's even and unnerving.

This isn't going to end well, I think to myself. One look at my brother and I know that he thinks the same.

"Cressida, Adrian we'd like you two and Raphael to work together to hunt down Jade and Ethan." Explains Amara. I'm about to protest, but she holds up a hand to silence me. "I know this is not ideal, but we are taking the necessary steps to stop a greater evil."

"Why do we need to work with Raphael? We're the best hunters you have, we don't need help from a vampire." Adrian is fuming, not liking the idea of working with Raphael at all. Meanwhile, I'm sitting calmly, barely surpressing tidal waves of rage.

"Adrian, you must understand that while you and your sister are the best hunters we have, there are certain factors that we must consider."

"You mean the fact that they're our parents." I don't phrase it as a question, because I know that that's exactly what Amara is talking about. "The fact that they're our parents means little to nothing, Amara. Adrian would have staked our mother had he not intervened."

"My point exactly." Amara glares at me and my brother. "Your orders were to capture them, alive. You were not to kill them. When it comes to your parents, you seem to have a knack for disobeying orders. But this time, your orders are to kill them. They are too dangerous to risk letting them live."

"Don't worry, Amara. I'll make sure they follow orders." Raphael, having been so quiet, finally spoke. My attention is directed towards him and I notice something, he's different. He doesn't look like the person he had become in the time he spent with us, he looks like the person he was when we first met him.

I groan, having no doubts that the feeling in the back of my skull that was present since the drive home was because of that. Raphael notices my changes of mood and smirks. Yup, definitely the old Raphael.

"Well, we must be going now. It was a pleasure seeing you again, Amara, and a pleasure meeting you two. I've heard so much about you, and I must say, you two certainly look the part." Jerimiah gets up and shakes Amara's hand, Raphael does the same. Walking up to us, Jerimiah shakes hands with Adrian, and then me.

Raphael just looks at us with a cocky smile. "I look forward to working with you two." And with that, the vampires leave.

Once I'm sure the two vampires are out of earshot, I speak. "What game are you playing, Amara?"

"You two are not to kill them, and you will make sure Raphael does not do so either. Do whatever you must do, but Jade and Ethan are to remain alive. Once you've cornered them, you will send out a signal that will tell the other hunters to close in and capture your parents. They will be brought back here, just as I had originally planned." Amara explains all of this calmly, as if she's not playing the, quite possibly, most dangerous game there is. Double crossing the oldest vampire to ever live, and letting the most dangerous vampires live.

Adrian looks at Amara with anger. "What about Jerimiah? Don't you think he'll be furious when he realizes you've tricked him? You're going to cause a war, Amara. And don't you think that he could have been inside your head while they were here? Jerimiah and Raphael are old enough to have that power."

"A war which we will win." She says dismissively. "As for the mind reading, I know how to shield my mind from vampires, even ones as powerful as Jerimiah and Raphael." It was then that I realized her plan. She wanted to wage war against the Coven. However, she knows that we have a fair chance of losing, unless we're certain that the ball is in our court. Our parents will do that for us, they would give us the upper hand. Amara probably has our scientists working on some concoction to brainwash them into doing her bidding. She's treading on dangerous waters and she knows it. The "death" of mom and dad took a toll on her, everyone knows that. But nobody expected her to become so... heartless.

I stand up and look Amara in the eyes. "I hope you know what you're doing, because if you don't, the League will fall. Thousands will die, and it'll be all your fault. If your plan fails, and all goes to hell, you're no better than the vampires; you're no better than a muderer." Adrian and I walk out of the office of a woman who was once like family to us, and Adri slams the door behind him.

This is so not going to end well.
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So, I second guessed this chapter a lot, but I think overall I'm okay with it. What do you guys think? Comment and/or vote! I'm hoping to have the next chapter up fairly soon.